Probiotics are amazing! They are healthy bacteria that live in our gut (aka our gastrointestinal system) and help make up our intestinal ecosystem. Often we think of probiotics as a digestive support because they help us break down our foods, but we are finding out that they do so much more than that.
Probiotics are now being shown to help turn certain genes on and off, impacting not just our health status one day, but in the future. Their benefits have been implicated in a variety of diseases including, autoimmunity, allergies, colorectal cancer, metabolic disease, diabetes, dementia and bacterial infections, to name a few.
Historically, we would get probiotics from the dirt on our food. In today’s world however, we are just too clean that we don’t get these healthy bacteria as often, and that’s why they are one of the few supplements that I think almost everyone could benefit from.
So how does this intestinal ecosystem (full of healthy probiotics) get started?
Prior to birth, our gastrointestinal systems are completely sterile. It’s during labour when baby first ingests the microflora that will become our gut bacteria. With a vaginal birth, this healthy flora comes from mom. However, if mom or baby needs antibiotics during birth, or if there is a C-section, that flora will come from the hospital or other external environment. Ultimately, this leads to babies with completely different gut flora, and once this flora is established, it’s there to stay.
The good news is, that research has shown that baby’s who take a probiotic immediately after birth can alter their gut bacteria to mimic that of their mothers. There appears to be a “window of opportunity” to impact baby’s gut flora and have it really stick. So for any baby’s born through C-section, or when mom/baby requires antibiotics, there’s still an easy way to shift that flora.
Beyond birth, whenever an antibiotic is prescribed, I recommend taking a probiotic to help ensure you’re keeping your intestinal ecosystem healthy. Consider taking a probiotic not just following your course of treatment, but also during your course of treatment. Probiotics taken alongside antibiotics help prevent antibiotic-resistant bacteria from developing, decrease the number of C-difficile infections (a potentially life-threatening infection that occurs after antibiotic use), and help prevent other medication-induced side effects.
When choosing a probiotic, consider both what kind of probiotic you’re taking – aka the strains – as well as the amount. Different strains will be more effective for different concerns. If you’re treating/supporting something specific, you can target known strains for that concern; for general use, I recommend a multi-strain probiotic. As for dosage, this will of course depend on the person and concerns, but you generally want to consider something with billions vs millions of units.
To healthy gut flora!
Dr Chanel Cressman, ND
Very well written for us ordinary people ?